Mainstream Media

It's no big news when the National Enquirer splashes celebrity scandal across its cover. But when the tabloid scoops the mainstream media on national stories twice within several weeks, editors and reporters snap to envious attention. The Enquirer broke a story in January about Jesse Jackson's illegitimate child (and another in the Feb. 27 issue about an additional affair). Recently, it printed the blockbuster that Hillary Rodham Clinton's brother, Hugh Rodham, received (and then returned)

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) tells a revealing anecdote about a recent conversation with a colleague during a morning workout in the Senate gym. A campaigner for openness in government, Cornyn was trying to interest a fellow senator in legislation that he was sponsoring along with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). The colleague indicated his lack of interest by saying, according to Cornyn, "That's just a press issue." How do you spell "kiss of death?" Cornyn...

Cuban-born actor Luis Avalos , known for his work on the PBS kids show "The Electric Company," died Wednesday following a recent heart attack. He was 67. Avalos joined "Electric Company" during its second season and played multiple characters, most notably Doctor Doolots, making him one of the first Latino actors featured prominently in mainstream media. He remained a cast member on the series, acting alongside stars including Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno and Bill Cosby,...

When it comes to speed and creativity, nobody does it better than Hollywood. Art galleries plan exhibits that will last for a few weeks or months; DreamWorks Animation arranged a "Croods" exhibit for one night only, and it was every bit as impressive as any swanky gallery launch. The Jan. 21 event at the Pacific Design Center was a tribute to the Oscar -nominated film, featuring a bank of video monitors, giant blowups of art from the animated pic and equally huge...

The Chicago Tribune and other mainstream media should be embarrassed that a publication like the National Enquirer broke the news on Jesse Jackson. According to Clarence Page, you have known about it for months, if not years. Shame on you for holding back on this story.

If you want to understand why conservatives have lost faith in the so-called mainstream media, you need to ponder the question: Where is the Benghazi feeding frenzy? Unlike some of my colleagues on the right, I don't think there's a conspiracy at work. Rather, I think journalists tend to act on their instincts (some even brag about this; you could look it up). And, collectively, the mainstream media's instincts run liberal, making groupthink inevitable. In 2000, a Democratic...

Wednesday's Editorial page asked Tribune readers to respond to that question. ---------- I think the Tribune and many other mainstream media outlets wish that this blogging phenomenon (which really has helped democratize the publishing of opinions) would just fade away. Also what type of blogging are they talking about? I won't read the navel-gazing musings of teenagers and others, but I do check several political blogs on a daily basis. I find them useful for finding out what news The New York Times...

If abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell is found guilty of homicide, he will be unique among murderers-for-hire: He set his fees based on weight. "The bigger the baby, the more he charged," a grand jury explained. It recommended he be charged with eight counts of murder -- one patient, seven babies. Despite what amounted to a blackout at many media outlets until last week, you've probably now heard at least some of the details. According to the grand jury report, Gosnell's Philadelphia...

To columnist Kathleen Parker, I say thank you. At long last, someone in the mainstream media has made the explicit connection between the Taliban treatment of the women in Afghanistan and their overall philosophy ("If U.S. needs ally, it should arm women of Afghanistan," Commentary, Oct. 3). As Ms. Parker points out so eloquently, "the only way to ensure stability in post-Taliban Afghanistan is to liberate the women and ensure their continued freedom." A sentiment that may be heartily endorsed and applied to women...

The reaction across the globe to Russia's anti-gay laws has been vocal and swift, but Anton Krasovsky 's experience offers insight into an issue that will most likely play out across the world's media during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Krasovsky, fired from Russia's KontrTV when he disclosed that he is gay, thinks the Kremlin has been surprised by the reaction in the West. "This anti-gay law wasn't supposed to provoke such a hue and cry. No one...

The recent downturn in circulation among the major newspapers (Business, April 30) may be caused by a wide variety of circumstances. I believe, however, that the mainstream media need look no further than conservative radio talk-show hosts who keep up a constant drumbeat of newspaper-bashing. The culprits are Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy, Oliver North and even WLS Radio in Chicago, which used to hype its programs with the slogan, "Don't trust the media!" As for me, if I want to know what is happening in...

"Pakistani authorities have long denounced the strikes, out of concern that civilian deaths caused by drone strikes inflame the local population, bolster militant groups and violate Pakistan's sovereignty." -- CNN, July 26 "Analysts said the administration was still grappling with the fact that drones remained the crucial instrument for going after terrorists in Yemen and Pakistan -- yet speaking about them publicly could generate a backlash in those countries because of issues like civilian casualties."

A Beijing city regulation clamping down on people who send text messages that "spread rumors" or "endanger public security" is a threat to freedom of expression, a watchdog group said Monday. China Human Rights Defenders, an international network of activists and rights-monitoring groups, said the recent regulation on text messages "raises serious concerns over the restriction of freedom of expression in China." The group said that an average of 180 million text messages are sent...

ATHENS (Reuters) - Small makeshift bombs exploded early on Friday outside the Athens homes of five Greek journalists working for major media outlets, in an apparent protest over coverage of events linked to the country's economic crisis, police said. The incendiary devices caused minor damage but no injuries and were the first such coordinated attacks against mainstream journalists since the Greek debt crisis erupted in 2009. Among those targeted by the bombs -...

It seems that not a day goes by without my seeing a column in the paper exhorting us to become concerned about AIDS now--now, that we know it can kill heterosexuals. Where have these people been over the last few years, when AIDS was killing innumerable homosexual men? Why didn`t the columnists, the mainstream media, care than? I hate to think it's because of anti-gay bias but that's the only logical explanation I can think of.

The recent story on Noam Chomsky came as a surprise to me because he is usually ignored by the mainstream media in this country. Predictably, however, anyone who has not already read his political writing or heard him speak on U.S. politics would get no idea from the article as to what it is that makes him popular with his audiences. His criticisms of U.S. society, its political elites and its government's foreign and domestic policies are more censored here in the mainstream media than they are in Canada,...